i must admit, i'm finding a little less humor and a lot more frustration in this latest trip to tel aviv for patrik's visa... but i have vented to anyone who will listen, had a relaxing neck rub, done some deep breathing exercises, and begun to take (some) proactive measures to remedy it all, so i'm feeling a little better... ERG.
i mean... oooooohm.....
*
our appointment was early tuesday morning, and so to avoid the stress of having to catch a train at 5:30 in the morning from haifa, we went the night before and stayed at a hotel near the embassy. luckily the embassy is in a really nice part of town, very posh, on the beach, so our hotel was fancyschmancy... we had a view of the ocean adn very comfy bed and a very snazzy flat screen tv (oolala). we ate at a cute asian restaurant that night, and then slept ridiculously well until the next morning, at which point we collected all our stuff, checked out, and wrapped what we could from the free breakfast (bagels and cream cheese) up to eat later... got in a taxi and then arrived at the embassy adn stood in a few lines for about half an hour (yes, there are already lines at the us embassy at 7 in the monrning), and then finally got inside where we could sit andwait for our appointment...
the first step was to have our documents reviewed before the appointment, which was done by the same helpful israeli woman that helped me with the petition to apply for the visa a couple months ago... we started getting worried at this point, because she mentioned the required police certificate from the israeli authorities had never arrived, even though we put in the request back in may. she also looked at the translation of patrik's documents strangely, saying this was not the way people usually brought the documents in... hmm... we then went to go pay our big bucks to submit the paperwork and were asked to have a seat and to listen for our names to be called by the consul.
three hours later (at which point our bagels and cream cheese had been thoroughly devoured and our tummies were crying out for more, more, more!), the consul called her first interview (us)... just so you know, this was not the same sweet consul as last time, but a stern, unsmiling new consul... who pretty much told us that our documentation was not complete because the police record had never come and that the translation we had done by the BWC and had notarized was not valid, as the translation had to be done by a notary who spoke french and english who would then notarize his own translation... at this point my heart is sinking because suddenly i realize that although i have been anxiously awaiting this day of the interview, we will leave once again KNOWING NOTHING. and having to do MORE PAPERWORK. and having NO IDEA if it will all get done in time.
ERG!
patrik, though, is calm as can be, as this is the way things are supposed to go ,in his mind... this is how things always go, and he begins becoming proactive to solve the problem while i just want to crawl in a hole and die.
ERG!
so we leave the embassy and walk to the beach with all our documentos, where we sit in the shade long enough for me to come out of a state of shock and devestation, and begin planning our visa strategy...
in the end, the reality of the situation is that we just have to find a way to get the embassy what it needs, because of course at this point we are in way too deep adn cannot just leave it all as it is and decide to go somewhere else... we have to get the paperwork (whatever it costs) because we've already invested so much money already... sigh.
but like i said, i have vented sufficiently (ha!) to where i can chuckle (de mala gana) at the situation, and just trudge along trying to find a solution to the problem . we still don't know if we'll get it all done in time, but we're going to try.
wish us luck.
and pray that next time we go in, the nice sweet consul woman is on duty that day.
